Wedding Receptions
Weddings Receptions are supposed to be fun for you and your guests. Here how to make that happen so that your guests don't leave early...
1. Plan activities to occur through your reception. Don't have long periods where nothing is going on, or your guests will start to leave. And make the activities fun. People really don't care about activities like "The Shoe Game", because they have seen it a million times before, and they are just standing there watching to people answer the same questions everybody else asks, at every other wedding they have been to.
2. If you want people to dance, you better consider hiring a great DJ. Time and time again, brides have told me that after all the activities they are going to have a dance party, yet nobody dances. Or very few. Why? There is not a DJ playing great music that they people who would dance, will dance to.
3. When the food and drink are gone, people will go. Its just their nature. Have hors d'oeuvres set up prior to dinner, then food(a dinner), then desert to keep your guests around. And have plenty of it. One of the things people remember the most about a wedding is the food and drink.
4. Music. Music can kill or make a wedding. You may like a certain type of music, but if nobody else does, people wont dance, and some will leave. Play popular music that everybody could like.
5. Money Dance. Unless you are really strapped for cash, don't do a money dance. Most People view it as a way to bilk cash out of them for a few seconds of dancing. And seriously, your not going to make that much money. Most people these days don't even carry that much cash on them, if any at all. Just do a dance for people without the money!
6. Slideshows. Receptions that do slideshows where they make everybody sit down at watch on a screen, may be entertaining to you and immediate family members, but not to guests. If you want to do a slide show, have it playing in a corner somewhere, where people can watch it if they want, or not.
7. Reception lines. Some people do reception lines, but this is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Why? They can bog down a reception and entirely take it over. It may be a great way for your parents to catch up with their friends, but standing for hours at a time, talking to hundreds of people, is not a lot of fun. And your great Aunt twice removed on your mothers side may take it as an opportunity to tell you her life story why everybody else waits. It happens, often! The longest reception line I have been in went on for 4 straight hours, when they had only planned on 2! Let your parents walk around and talk to everybody why you have fun at your reception. Or, if you do a reception line, have both sets of parents in one location, and the bride and groom in another location. I promise you your line will go much faster that your parents, who most likely like to talk a lot. By sandwiching you between your parents, the line will get bogged down by on or the other set of parents, and make it harder for a photographer to get pictures of you interacting with your guests. Also, many times, after the line is done, the guests are mostly gone, so nobody is there for the dances, or cake cutting, or sendoff.